Joe Biden. Why do people think the surge has anything to do with national security ?

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MSNBC VIDEO

Biden digs deeper hole. I hope to get video later

Biden Says Palin Will Eventually Have To Defend Record

1 hour, 21 minutes ago

(RTTNews) - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden on Sunday praised his Republican rival Sarah Palin as a politician, but suggested that people will ultimately vote based on positions.

He also defended the stance Democratic candidate Barack Obama has taken on the conflict in Iraq, saying that Republican nominee John McCain has no plan for what to do now.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” the Delaware senator called his Republican counter part, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a “smart, tough politician,” but said she would eventually have to come on talk shows and appear in debates to defend her record.

Biden said that people will ultimately choose between Obama and McCain and not between Palin and himself.

On Iraq, Biden answered questions about whether Obama regretted his opposition to the troop surge, which appears to have helped quell violence. The vice presidential candidate said it was almost “irrelevant” whether the surge worked, as the issue at hand is now what should be the next step.

He accused Republican candidate John McCain of not having a clear plan about what to do now. Biden said McCain will not sign on to a timeline for turning over Iraq’s security to the Iraqis, and has no plan about how to deal with Iraq’s neighbors like Syria, Iran and Turkey.

Asked whether he thought Sarah Palin would be able to draw votes from former supporters of Hillary Clinton, who lost to Obama in the Democratic primaries, Biden said he thought it was “demeaning” to assume that women would vote for a woman no matter what the candidate’s positions are. He said that to his knowledge, Palin does not share a single position with Clinton.

Biden also stated that Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have indicated that they will go anywhere to campaign for the Democratic ticket. As part of this, the Clintons have indicated they will campaign either with Obama and Biden or on their own.